DIY hair accessory holder- $5

Funny Story:

When my daughter Audrey was born the whole event happened very quickly- as in 25 minutes. As a result of her very speedy delivery she was born with a broken collar bone and a smushed up looking face (not the funny part).  She was the CUTEST smushed up baby I had ever seen in my life. 

When she was six days old I took her to our family doctor to discuss how her collar bone was healing. She was healing beautifully, gaining weight wonderfully and it was, overall, a great checkup. As the doctor was leaving the exam room he said over his shoulder "And don't worry-she will cute up."  Cute up?!!? Audrey wasn't cute??!!! I looked down at her, and the worlds most beautiful smushed up baby face looked back at me. 

As I came in the door at home I asked That Guy, "Audrey is cute, right?" "Of course!" he said. "Only to us?" I asked. "...yeah..." he said. 

Over the next few weeks the bones in her face settled into their correct places and she lost that smushed up look. But I never lost the tendency to be super sensitive and defensive about her "cuteness".  

*Here is where the above story becomes relevant to a DIY hair accessory holder*. As a result of my super sensitivity I may, occasionally, go overboard on having new hair accessories for Audrey. So now, at 21 months old, she has about a bazillion. 

I needed a way to keep all these accessories tidy and visible (she has so many that I will forget she has a certain one if I can't see it). So I went online to look for a holder.  I saw one that was totally adorable. But it was priced at $65! 

I figured I could make one myself, and now I have. For $5- a savings of 92%!

Finished hair bow holder

As I was gathering up all her hair accessories I noticed that the large majority of them were flowers. That inspired me to make a floral landscape.

So we bought the largest size canvas they sell at the dollar store ($3), some hooks ($1) and some dark green ribbon ($1). Everything else was on hand.

Supplies.
See the mountain of hair accessories? I wasn't kidding

 I started with a paper doily someone had given me a package of. I thought it would make an adorable "sun", so I painted it yellow and left it to dry.
 In case you're wondering that IS a strip of kitchen sponge. Its much cheaper for me to buy a package of 10 kitchen sponges for $1, then cut each sponge into four or five strips to use for broad stroke painting or Mod Podging than it would be for me to buy a package of ten foam brushes for $1.

Doily sun in progress

 Next I used every ounce of artistic ability I had and painted a horizon and even some fluffy white clouds.

I thought painting over the horizon line would make the grass look "organic" and "more realistic".
Turns out, it just looks sloppy. 

 When the doily was dry I Mod Podged it to the upper corner and cut off the excess.

It may look like a first grade art project to you, but I was quite impressed with myself at this point. 

 Next I added some self adhesive hooks along the bottom. Just peel and stick. How could you mess it up? You can't! Well, unless you're talking to your four year old and not watching as you stick down hook #4 all lopsided and wonky. Meh, the elastic headbands won't notice.

Wonky hook

 I had some green sequin trim left over from a previous sewing project. I decided to use that as my "stems". I hot glued them to the back of the canvas on the top and bottom. The length of the "stem"must be free from the board so you can clip things to it.
When I glued I used a very precise globing technique with the hot glue. Make sure those strips are really on there, you don't want them to pop off after you add the weight of all the clips.

Sequin stems

I had used up every bit of my artistic ability when I painted the horizon, so when it came to stem leaves I asked That Guy to paint them on for me.

Stems with leaves

 Next up were some ribbon loops for the hard headbands. She is still young for those (her head is too small for many) but already has six, so the loops were a must. I glued down the strip of ribbon with hot glue.

Finished but unadorned

Then I added all Audrey's clips, elastic headbands and only two of her hard headbands.

Yes, those are faux pigtails in an elastic headband.
Cutest things ever! Audrey was so bald for so long.... I bought them from this site. 

 But I noticed the board looked a little crowed for all you gentle readers to really be able to see what I did. So I scaled back some of the clips to what I imagine the average little one might have.

Pretty, right?

Taa-daa!! I'm quite pleased with myself! :)